Krauthammer: Year One of Obama
Remember when director Spike Lee said that in the future we would mark time "Before Obama" and "After Obama"? That was super smart of him.
As we approach the one year anniversary of Barack Obama's swearing in as the 44th president of the United States it is appropriate that we hear what Dr. Charles Krauthammer thinks of the Commander-in-Chief's performance thus far.
He begins:
What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama's approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent -- and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president's second year.
A year ago, he was leader of a liberal ascendancy that would last 40 years (James Carville). A year ago, conservatism was dead (Sam Tanenhaus). Now the race to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in bluest of blue Massachusetts is surprisingly close, with a virtually unknown state senator bursting on the scene by turning the election into a mini-referendum on Obama and his agenda, most particularly health care reform.
While liberal Democrats in congress and the media scramble to find explanations for their golden boy's plummeting numbers, Krauthammer thinks the dissatisfaction the majority of Americans now have with the president is much more than surface deep.
It's not about style; it's about substance. About which Obama has been admirably candid. This out-of-nowhere, least-known of presidents dropped the veil most dramatically in the single most important political event of 2009, his Feb. 24 first address to Congress. With remarkable political honesty and courage, Obama unveiled the most radical (in American terms) ideological agenda since the New Deal: the fundamental restructuring of three pillars of American society -- health care, education and energy.
Instead of making "fixing the economy" the focus of his presidency. thus far Obama has pursued Euro-socialist goals. He is failing because all the people who fell for his "I'm a moderate...a new kind of politician" schtick are wising up to the fact that the man was a radical Leftist his entire adult life (and a wildly in-experienced candidate to-boot).
Nothing sums up the president's present predicament better than this:
Ideas matter. Legislative proposals matter. Slick campaigns and dazzling speeches can work for a while, but the magic always wears off.
Read the full column here.
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January 15th, 2010 - 13:27
Krauthammer is a talented writer, but I think he’s dead-wrong about OBama’s problems. They are a result of a horrible 8 years under the Bush regime. The guy made so many mistakes that it’s gonna take more than a year to fix them. People like Obama because he’s younger and exciting and passionate. We need the government to help us more in times like these. Capitalism hasn’t worked like it was promised to work.
January 15th, 2010 - 17:55
Blaming Bush is kind of getting old, wouldn’t you say? Plus, we were promised that Obama would have an instant and immediate effect on the lackluster state of the economy, of political discourse, and of white house press secretaries.
Krauthammer is a genius and has diagnosed the situation better than anyone else I’ve read on the subject. Thanks for posting this, RJ.
January 15th, 2010 - 22:03
I do and don’t agree with both sides here. A year in, I now refuse the “this was all inherited” bull crap. People COME INTO inheritances; Barack Obama, and all other presidential hopefuls pursued and sold themselves as saviors of the trouble that Bush did leave. So, our president persuaded enough people to win his election, now it’s his job (which he convinced so many of us he COULD do…to do it). With that said, I don’t have much respect for Krauthammer. He’s just like any other talking head to me–tossing out big words and talking points, untested theories and purposeful division which is in essence, diversion.
People want a bottom line for Obama’s first year? I suggest that they read Esquire’s article written a few months back. ( http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/obama-timeline-110309 )
Here’s an excerpt:
“…The Problem With America Today: Blame it on the Internet, on partisan politics, on the economic crash, on the legacy of war or Fox News or Michael Moore, but our vital center is getting stiff — and it is starting to stink.
Liberals are upset because Obama didn’t shut down Guantánamo or stop the wiretapping program or end all wars or support gay marriage and kill Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Conservatives are pissed off because they hate health-care reform, family planning, ending any war at all, organic gardening at the White House, and government in general.
What’s worse, both sides are so angry and righteous that they can’t even begin to give credit where it is due. When was the last time you heard a conservative cheer about that $288 billion tax cut? Or credit Obama for the centrism it took to appoint McChrystal, Panetta, and Gates? And how many liberals choose to be understanding about the practical difficulties of shutting down Guantánamo, achieving equal rights for gays, or tapping Al Qaeda’s phones?
And where, on either side, can you find a scrap of humility about the staggeringly complex challenge of Afghanistan and Pakistan? Or a scrap of gratitude at having escaped global financial doom?
So the question, a year since we elected him, isn’t how much Obama has accomplished. The question is why we’ve turned so small and mean that we only see half of it — the half we happen to agree with.”
This summation is where our nation is NOW. I don’t like it, and I tire of talking heads who get paid to reinforce divisions among us as a country. And Robbie, I must say, that the way in which you handle a lot of your posts ought to bring you shame. You are consistently condescending and jovial in throwing around pejoratives–like many people, perhaps myself included. But we all should learn to be better! It all seems like a game, and we are but too willing to play with blinders on. Who can catch Obama’s rating slipping?! Who can find his waterloo?! Who can digg the hardest on Palin?! Sensationalism has run amok. We get dooms-day scenarios delivered to our doors each and every day. We got a grown man crying on TV speaking about how we’ve lost his America.
….we all need to take a step back from our positions of absolute confidence, and observe reality: which is probably closer to this Esquire article than Fox News or MSNBC will have us believe.
/rant